The Effects of a Task Analysis and Self‐Evaluation on the Acquisition of Yoga Poses

Ortega et al. (2026) taught adults to do yoga poses correctly. They gave each person a picture strip that showed every step of the pose. After each try, the person checked off which steps they did right.

The team used a multiple-baseline design across poses. They started the strip with one pose, then added the next pose only after the first one looked good.

All adults hit at least 90 % of the steps for every pose. Some had never done yoga before. Others had some experience. The strip worked for both groups.

Once the strip was in place, accuracy stayed high even when no coach gave feedback.

The idea is old. Castells et al. (1979) already said self-evaluation can shift control from teacher to student. Ortega simply moved the same trick from a classroom desk to a yoga mat.

Duker et al. (1991) warned that bulky counters can feel weird and change the data. Ortega sidesteps this by using quiet picture sheets. No clicks, no stares, just a pencil tick.

Petscher et al. (2006) paired prompts with self-monitoring and then faded the prompts. Ortega did the same: they first gave praise for correct ticks, then let the strip run alone. The pattern holds across staff token economies and yoga poses.

You can hand a client a one-page picture strip and walk away. They teach themselves the skill and keep score. This frees you to run other programs or serve more kids. Try it with any chained task: dance moves, weight-lifting form, or vocational assembly. Just break the chain into photos, add check boxes, and let self-evaluation do the heavy lifting.